


Ich lass für dich das Licht an

by Aisjustrunning



Category: All For The Game - Nora Sakavic
Genre: Canon Compliant, Cats - mentioned, Future Fic, M/M, Road Trips
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-11
Updated: 2017-02-11
Packaged: 2018-09-23 12:50:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,104
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9658145
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Aisjustrunning/pseuds/Aisjustrunning
Summary: The day Neil’s season ended, he showed up at Andrew’s apartment, bag in hand, ready for one of their road trips.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Happy Valentine's, [key-called-home](http://key-called-home.tumblr.com)! I hope this is what you wanted. I almost wrote Allison/Renee for you, because I love them too, but I had a few Andreil ideas I wanted to play with. Also, this was going to be a bit longer, but life happened. I hope you like it anyway and you have a great Valetine's weekend, whatever you decide to do with it!
> 
> Thanks to [Nef](http://bjomolf.tumblr.com) for being a super thorough beta (and allowing me to turn her into a hockey fan in the process???). Any remaining mistake is solely mine. I'm not a native speaker, so please be nice about them. And shout-out to [Andrea](http://inkalchemist.tumblr.com/) for dealing with my title/tags meltdowns.
> 
> I own nothing, especially the title, which means "I leave the lights on for you" and is a song by Revolverheld. It's cheesy as hell, but it talks about doing small things for people you love.

The day Neil’s season ended, he showed up at Andrew’s apartment, bag in hand. Andrew was expecting him. They had talked about it, the last time they had seen each other a few weeks ago. Neil’s team had beaten Andrew’s, eliminating them from contention.

They had met at Neil’s then, Andrew refusing to spend the night at the hotel with the team. The threat of murder had gotten him a single room for all the road games, but he still preferred to spend the night at Neil’s rather than a random hotel. Their teams had met only three times that year, but it was still more comfortable, more _known_. It was _practical_ , that was it. He wouldn’t say it out loud even if anyone pressed him (no one would, anyway), but it was good, seeing Neil. Missing him wasn’t expected, but it happened more and more every day.

He welcomed being able to stay at Neil’s when he played Neil’s team; welcomed Neil coming to his doorstep as soon as there was no more Exy to play.

It was Andrew who started the kiss when he opened the door for Neil, after a low “yes or no?” said close to Neil’s face. Neil was quick to answer with a _yes_ , his hands balled into fists to kill any reflex which could move them towards Andrew’s body.

The kiss was slow: rediscovering each other after an absence; no tongue, no teeth; no contact other than their lips. They didn’t let it escalate. Not when they had plans.

“You changed your smokes,” Neil said after they parted, a small smile tugging at the corner of his mouth. “To the ones I like.”

“Don’t wet yourself”, Andrew huffed. “They’re sold near the court.”

Neil’s smile got bigger, as if he could tell Andrew was full of shit, as if he knew they didn’t sell those anywhere in this city, and Andrew had driven 30 miles just to get them. Because Neil liked them better. He opened his mouth to say something, but Andrew cut him off:

“Let’s go, car is by the door.”

Andrew grabbed his own bag and left the flat, not bothering to check whether Neil was following him. He didn’t need to see it; he knew Neil would come after him anyway, which got confirmed when he heard his door close and the keys turn in the lock.

He sat behind the wheel while Neil took the passenger seat. They didn’t talk while they drove out of the city, comfortable with the silence. It was almost a routine: driving out together, after all the road trips they had been taking through the years. Neil didn’t even ask where they were going, the same as Andrew rarely asked the times Neil was behind the wheel, still the only person Andrew would let drive his car. It could be the Columbia house, or one of the spots where Neil’s mother had hidden money.

Andrew didn’t really have a plan for this one. He wanted to drive, to get far away from his team: from everyone but Neil. He was going to stay on the road until he found an ok-looking hotel, a place to get ice-cream, anything that attracted his attention. Maybe Columbia, in the end. A visit to Renee later, if she were not with Allison all the time.

“Sonia, the girl in my team?” Neil said suddenly, after about an hour of silent driving.

Andrew didn’t turn to look at him. He didn’t have to: Neil knew he was listening anyway.

“She has a cat. She keeps on showing pictures to everyone. And videos.” He paused, as if considering what to say next. Andrew still didn’t look at him. Andrew had no idea what was the point of talking about teammates and their pets, and he didn’t really care, but he had a suspicion Neil would tell him anyway. “I want one.”

“You want a video of your teammate’s cat?” Andrew knew he was being difficult on purpose, but he didn’t have to collaborate every time Neil decided to share something useless with him.

“No,” Neil said, no sign of exasperation in his voice. “I want a cat. Maybe two.”

“Why do I care? Keep whatever you want in your house.”

“I was expecting it to be _our_ house.”

“Columbia?” Andrew didn’t think putting a living thing in a place that was empty for half of the year was a good idea, but what did he care? It wouldn’t be his cat anyway.

“No. My contract is up now that the season has ended. I’m not signing up with Indianapolis again.”

That was a surprise. They hadn’t discussed future plans. This was the first time Andrew heard about Neil not signing up with his team again. And _no way_ Neil was not playing more Exy, before making it to Court.

“You are a junkie. I can’t believe you’re quitting Exy.”

“I’m not.”

“Then?”

“I’m signing with the Thunder”.

Andrew didn’t really know what to say that. That was… ok. His team. Being on the court with Neil again. Interesting.

“Ok,” he said in the end.

“Ok?”

“Good. Day will have a fit. It’ll be great.” Andrew could see Neil smiling from the corner of his eye. “No cats, though.”

Neil didn’t stop smiling. “We’ll see about that.”

-*-*-*-*-

They barely stopped that day: just a short ice-cream break, and then the hotel. Later, in their room, Neil had silently pushed the bed against the wall so that Andrew could sleep the way he always did: back to the wall, facing Neil. It wasn’t until Neil was asleep that Andrew googled cat pictures. Neil was stubborn, Andrew knew that. If he wanted cats, he would get cats; Andrew just had to prepare for it.

On paper, cats didn’t seem like a big nuisance: they were independent, mostly took care of themselves. And they looked… small. The fluffy balls woke a weird feeling inside of him. Similar to what he felt when he looked at Neil, far on the other side of the bed, his face relaxed in sleep in a way it never did when awake: looking peaceful despite the scars that would never fade. A feeling that pushed him to _protect_.

He thought about Neil’s idea, about being on a team together again, sharing a place. Houses were important to Neil. A house meant belonging somewhere. Of course, they had the Columbia house. Andrew had made it clear many times since the beginning that it was Neil’s house too. But they hadn’t properly lived together. Yet.

Andrew fell asleep with that thought in his mind.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Kudos and comments are love. I'm on [tumblr](http://ilovetextingandscones.tumblr.com) if you want to shout at me for something or just see me cry over guys kissing.


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